MLC Transcription System
Encyclopedia
The Myanma Language Commission Transcription System, also known as the MLC Transcription System (MLCTS), is a transliteration
system for rendering Burmese
in the Latin alphabet
. It is loosely based on the Pali
romanisation system, has some similarities to the ALA-LC Romanization
, and was devised by the Myanma Language Commission. This system is used in many linguistic publications regarding Burmese, and is used in all MLC publications as the primary form of transcription for Burmese.
The transcription system is based on the orthography
of formal Burmese, and is not suited for colloquial Burmese, which has substantial differences in phonology from formal Burmese. Differences are mentioned throughout the article.
1Sometimes used as a final, but preceding diacritics determine its pronunciation.
The Burmese alphabet is arranged in groups of five, and within each group, consonants can stack one another. The consonant above the stacked consonant is the final of the previous vowel. Most words of Sino-Tibetan origin are spelt without stacking, but polysyllabic words of Indo-European origin (such as Pali, Sanskrit, and English) are often spelt with stacking. Possible combinations are as follows:
1The pa. in ang ga. lip is sometimes spelt with a ta., although this is uncommon.
All consonantal finals are pronounced as glottal stops ([ʔ]), except for nasal finals. All possible combinations are as follows, and correspond to the colors of the initials above:
Nasalised finals are transcribed differently. Transcriptions of the following diacritical combinations in Burmese for nasalised finals are as follows:
Monophthong
s are transcribed as follows:
1 Oral vowels are shown with .
2 Nasal vowels are shown with (-an).
that comes before the vowel. Combinations of medials (such as h- and -r-) are possible. They follow the following order in transcription: h-, -y- or -r-, and -w-. In standard Burmese, there are three pronounced medials. The following are medials in the MLC Transcription System:
†The two medials are pronounced the same in standard Burmese. In dialects such as Rakhine
(Arakanese), the latter is pronounced [r].
‡When this the medial is spelt with ra. , its sound becomes hra. [ʃa̰] , which was once represented by hsya. .
Transliteration
Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
system for rendering Burmese
Burmese language
The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese. Burmese is the native language of the Bamar and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as...
in the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
. It is loosely based on the Pali
Páli
- External links :* *...
romanisation system, has some similarities to the ALA-LC Romanization
ALA-LC Romanization
ALA-LC is a set of standards for romanization, or the representation of text in other writing systems using the Latin alphabet. The initials stand for American Library Association - Library of Congress....
, and was devised by the Myanma Language Commission. This system is used in many linguistic publications regarding Burmese, and is used in all MLC publications as the primary form of transcription for Burmese.
The transcription system is based on the orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
of formal Burmese, and is not suited for colloquial Burmese, which has substantial differences in phonology from formal Burmese. Differences are mentioned throughout the article.
Features
Features of the MLC Transcription System include:- Usage of coalesced letters in transcribing stacked consonants
- Consonantal transcriptions (for initials) similar to those of Pali
- Transcription of finals as consonants (-k, -c, -t, -p), rather than as glottal stops
- Transcription of nasalized finals as consonants (-m, -ny, -n, -ng), rather than as a single -n final
- However, MLCTS does not differentiate between the anunasika and the -m final
- Usage of : and . to transcribe two tones, heavy and creaky respectively
- Special transcriptions for abbreviated syllables used in literary Burmese
Initials and finals
The following initials are listed in the traditional ordering of the Burmese script, with the transcriptions of the initials listed before their IPA equivalents:k ([k]) |
hk ([kʰ]) |
g ([ɡ]) |
gh ([ɡ]) |
ng ([ŋ]) |
c ([s]) |
hc ([sʰ]) |
j ([z]) |
jh ([z]) |
ny ([ɲ]) |
t ([t]) |
ht ([tʰ]) |
d ([d]) |
dh ([d]) |
n ([n]) |
t ([t]) |
ht ([tʰ]) |
d ([d]) |
dh ([d]) |
n ([n]) |
p ([p]) |
hp ([pʰ]) |
b ([b]) |
bh ([b]) |
m ([m]) |
y ([j]) |
r ([j] or [r]) |
l1 ([l]) |
w ([w]) |
s ([θ] or [ð]) |
h ([h]) |
l ([l]) |
a [ə] or [a]) |
||
1Sometimes used as a final, but preceding diacritics determine its pronunciation.
The Burmese alphabet is arranged in groups of five, and within each group, consonants can stack one another. The consonant above the stacked consonant is the final of the previous vowel. Most words of Sino-Tibetan origin are spelt without stacking, but polysyllabic words of Indo-European origin (such as Pali, Sanskrit, and English) are often spelt with stacking. Possible combinations are as follows:
Group | Burmese | Transcriptions | Example |
---|---|---|---|
ka. | , , , , | kk, khk, gg, ggh, and ng g respectively | ang ga. lip ()1, meaning "English" |
ca. | , , , , , , | cc, chc, jj, jjh, nyc, nyj | wijja , meaning "knowledge" |
ta. | , , , , | tt, tht, dd, ddh, nd | kanta. , meaning "section" |
ta. | , , , , , , , | tt, htht, dd, nt, nht, nd, ndh, nn | manta. le: , Mandalay Mandalay Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of one million, and is the capital of Mandalay Region .... , a city in Burma |
pa. | , , , , , , , | pp, bb, bbh, mp, mb, mbh, mm | kambha , meaning "world" |
ya. | , | ss, ll | pissa , meaning viss, a traditional Burmese unit of weight measurement |
1The pa. in ang ga. lip is sometimes spelt with a ta., although this is uncommon.
All consonantal finals are pronounced as glottal stops ([ʔ]), except for nasal finals. All possible combinations are as follows, and correspond to the colors of the initials above:
Consonant | Transcription (with IPA) |
---|---|
k | -ak ( [eʔ]), -wak ( [weʔ]), -auk [auʔ]), -uik [aiʔ]) |
c | -ac ( [iʔ]) |
t | -at ( [aʔ]), -wat ( [waʔ] or [uɴ]), -ut ( [ouʔ]), it ( [eiʔ]) |
p | -p ( [aʔ] or [ɛʔ]), -wap ( [waʔ] or [uɴ]), -up , ip ( [eiʔ]) |
Nasalised finals are transcribed differently. Transcriptions of the following diacritical combinations in Burmese for nasalised finals are as follows:
Consonant | Transcription (with IPA) |
---|---|
ng | -ang( [iɴ]), -wang ( [wiɴ]), -aung ( [auɴ]), -uing ( [aiɴ]) |
ny | -any ( [e] or [ei]), -any ( iɴ]) |
n | -an ( [aɴ]), -wan ( [waɴ] or [uɴ]), -un ( [ouɴ]), -in ( eiɴ]) |
m | -am ( [aɴ]), -wam ( [waɴ] or [uɴ]), -um ( [ouɴ]), -im ( [eiɴ]) |
-am ( [aɴ]), -um ( [ouɴ]) (equivalent to -am, but spelt with an anunaasika) | |
Monophthong
Monophthong
A monophthong is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation....
s are transcribed as follows:
Burmese | Transcription | IPA | Remarks | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Low | High | Creaky | Low | High | Creaky | Low | High | Creaky | |
-a | -a: | -a. | [à] | [á] | [a̰] | Can be combined with medial -w-. | |||
| -ai | -ai: | -ai. | [ɛ̀] | [ɛ́] | ɛ̰] | |||
| -au | -au: | -au. | [ɔ̀] | [ɔ́] | [ɔ̰] | As a full vowel in the high tone, it is written and transcribed au:. As a full vowel in the creaky tone, it is written and is transcribed au. | ||
-u | -u: | -u. | [ù] | [ú] | [ṵ] | As a full vowel in the creaky tone, it is written and is transcribed u.. As a vowel in low tone, it is written and transcribed u. | |||
-ui | -ui: | -ui. | [ò] | [ó] | [o̰] | ||||
-i | -i: | i. | [ì] | [í] | [ḭ] | As a full vowel in the creaky tone, it is written and is transcribed i.. As a full vowel in the high tone, it is written and transcribed i:. | |||
-e | -e: | -e. | [è] | [é] | [ḛ] | As a full vowel in the high tone, it is written and is transcribed ei:. It can be combined with medial -w-. | |||
Tones
Tone name | Burmese | Transcribed tone mark |
Remarks | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oral vowels1 | IPA International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic... |
Nasal vowel Nasal vowel A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the velum so that air escapes both through nose as well as the mouth. By contrast, oral vowels are ordinary vowels without this nasalisation... s2 |
IPA International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic... |
|||
Low | à | àɴ | none | |||
High | á | áɴ | Colon Colon (punctuation) The colon is a punctuation mark consisting of two equally sized dots centered on the same vertical line.-Usage:A colon informs the reader that what follows the mark proves, explains, or lists elements of what preceded the mark.... (:) |
In both cases, the colon-like symbol (shay ga pauk) is used to denote the high tone. | ||
Creaky | a̰ | a̰ɴ | Full stop Full stop A full stop is the punctuation mark commonly placed at the end of sentences. In American English, the term used for this punctuation is period. In the 21st century, it is often also called a dot by young people... (.) |
Nasalised finals use the anusvara Anusvara Anusvara is the diacritic used to mark a type of nasalization used in a number of Indic languages. Depending on the location of the anusvara in the word and the language within which it is used, its exact pronunciation can vary greatly.... to denote the creaky tone in Burmese. |
1 Oral vowels are shown with .
2 Nasal vowels are shown with (-an).
Medial consonants
A medial is a semivowelSemivowel
In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel is a sound, such as English or , that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary rather than as the nucleus of a syllable.-Classification:...
that comes before the vowel. Combinations of medials (such as h- and -r-) are possible. They follow the following order in transcription: h-, -y- or -r-, and -w-. In standard Burmese, there are three pronounced medials. The following are medials in the MLC Transcription System:
Burmese | IPA International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic... | Transcription | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|
[j] | -y-† | Its possible combinations are with consonants ka., , hka., , ga. , pa. , hpa. , ba. , and ma. . The medial is possible with other finals and vowels. | |
[j] | -r-† | The aforementioned remarks apply to this medial as well. | |
[w] | -w- | Its possible combinations are with consonants ka. , hka. , ga. , nga, , ca, , hca, , ja, , nya, , ta. , hta, , da , na, , pa, , hpa, , ba, , bha. , ma, , ya. , ra. , la. , and sa. . The medial is possible with other finals and vowels, using the already mentioned consonants. | |
1 | h- | Its possible combinations are with consonants nga. , nya. , na. ), ma. , ya. ‡, ra. ‡, and la. . |
†The two medials are pronounced the same in standard Burmese. In dialects such as Rakhine
Rakhine people
The Rakhine , is a nationality in Myanmar forming the majority along the coastal region of present day Rakhine State or Arakan State. They possibly constitute 5.53% or more of Myanmar's total population but no accurate census figures exist. Rakhine people also live in the southeastern parts of...
(Arakanese), the latter is pronounced [r].
‡When this the medial is spelt with ra. , its sound becomes hra. [ʃa̰] , which was once represented by hsya. .
Abbreviated syllables
Formal Burmese has four abbreviated symbols, which are typically used in literary works. They are listed below:Burmese | IPA International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic... |
Transcription | Usage | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Modern abbrev. |
Histor. spelling |
|||
[jwé] | rwe | It is a connecting particle that connects two elements in a sentence and sometimes means "because" or "and". | ||
[n̥aiʔ] | hnai. | It is a locative particle that acts as a postposition after nouns (at, in, on). It is equivalent to hma in colloquial Burmese. | ||
| [la̰ ɡàuɴ] | la. kaung | It acts as a demonstrative noun (this or that) when it precedes a noun. It is also used as a connecting phrase (as well as) between two nouns within a clause. | |
| [ḭ] | e | It is a genitive that is written at the end of a sentence ending with a verb. It also marks possession of a preceding noun. | |